Monday, May 7, 2012

Baby Shower!

As most of you know, I'm expecting a baby. My official due date is June 6th, which makes me 36 weeks along, but the doctors are thinking it's not likely I'll make it past 38 weeks. By the way, she's a girl and her name is Emily Hannah Guzman. : )

As friends and family plan a baby shower for me here, I'm a little melancholy.
You see, a good portion of my friends live on the Internet—at least from my
perspective. ; ) I suppose it's part of
the world in which we live and the fact that, as a writer, I spend a lot of
time on the Internet. When asked who I wanted at my baby shower, friends from
Twitter, Facebook and members of my group blogs came to mind. I really wanted
to invite all of you to celebrate with me.

I think I've figured out a way. ; )

This week I'm having a
baby shower giveaway. No, not asking for gifts, instead, I'm giving them. Think
of them like party prizes.

This is not my first time at the rodeo, but it is the first
time I'm going to attempt to work from home with a newborn—a task that seems
more daunting as the day approaches. Also I have six other kids that will need
my attention. How thin can you spread mommy? Don't get me wrong, I have an
absolutely wonderful, supportive husband, but after our 8 weeks
maternity/paternity leave, he's going back to work.

So this is what I'm asking you to do.

Leave a comment with any advice you might have on juggling
work, babies, and home, a funny story about babies or siblings, your favorite
memory of those newborn weeks, or just wish me luck. I may ask a question to get
the conversation going.

Every day I will randomly select a commenter to win the
daily prize.

Prizes include $5 gift certificates to Bath and Body Works,
Amazon, Starbucks, and two e-books: The Priestess of the Nile by Veronica Scott
and Demon Crossing by Eleri Stone. The Baby Shower will last from May 7th
to May 11th.

Everyone is eligible to win every day because I want everyone to show up! So
please spread the word!

Today's prize is the $5 gift certificate to Amazon!

So go! Today, just any random advice you might have on
balancing work and family!

8 comments:

Wow! Congratulations! I have very little advice - I'm adopted two children this summer, and my first ever book comes out from Carina in November, and I have many of the same fears! I do have a couple friends who contribute to a blog called Peanut Butter on the Keyboard (http://peanutbutteronthekeyboard.wordpress.com/) all about writing and being a mom, and that's been fun to follow! I look forward to reading what everyone else has to say so I can learn from their wisdom!~ Jax Garren

My advice is seize the little moments for quick tasks: tweeting, quick emails, a speedy blog post, basically all the promo and business stuff. Babies don't stay quiet for long, but they will often stay quiet long enough to get a quick bit of work in.

Naptimes: Choose one where you nap too. Commit to it until you are back to "normal" (there's really no such thing as a mom, but you can get close...-ish). Use the others for writing, cleaning, or whatever other "big" tasks you need to get done (and do the writing part when you are at your most creatively productive as trying to do it other times will frustrate you as often as not)

Also, get your baby used to napping with noise. That way you can clean or play music or talk on the phone without fear of waking the baby.

Take it easy those first few weeks and enjoy Emily. I wasted a lot of time goofing off and thinking about things other than my new baby. I already miss those days and wish I could do them over.

As far as getting work done with a newborn in the house... I have no idea! I still haven't gotten the hang of it. I've cut back on assignments and culled clients, but I still end up doing most of my work in the middle of the night. :\

W00t! Thanks! :) And to answer your earlier question, they will be between the ages of 2 and 8 - big range there, I know - and we may not know the ages or genders until the day before they arrive! Talk about getting the house ready fast... ~ Jax

About Me

I'm a writer with an adoring and gorgeous husband, seven active children, a day job, huge backyard and penchant for ordering too many flowers from catalogs. You could say I've learned how to juggle with my head in the clouds.